Stevie Wonder Full Biography

Stevland Hardaway Morris known by his stage name Stevie Wonder is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century. Wonder signed with Mottown's Tama label at the age of 11, and he continued performing and recording for Mottown into the 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth. Among Wonderss works are singles such as Superstition, Sir Duke, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and I Just Called to Say I Love You, and albums such as Talking Book, Inner Visions, and songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than 30 US top 10 hits and received 25 Grammy awards, one of the most awarded male solo artists and has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the top 60 best-selling music artists. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2013, Billboard magazine released a list of the Billboard Hot 100 all-time top artists to celebrate the US singles charts 55th anniversary with Wonder at number six. Early life. Stevie Wonder was born in Sagena, Michigan in 1950. the third of six children of Calvin Judkins and Lula May Hardaway, a songwriter. He was born six weeks premature, which along with the oxygen-rich atmosphere in the hospital incubator, resulted in retinopathy of prematurity, Ro, a condition in which the growth of the eyes is aborted and causes the retinas to detach. So, he became blind. When Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved to Detroit with her children. She changed her name back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her son's surname to Morris, partly because of relatives. Wonder has retained Morris as his legal surname. He began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, and drums. He formed a singing partnership with a friend, calling themselves Stevie and John. They played on street corners and occasionally at parties and dances. career 1961-69 60s singles. In 1961, when aged 11, Wonder sang his own composition, Lonely Boy, to Ronnie White of the Miracles, White then took Wonder and his mother to an audition at Mottown, where CEO Barry Gordy signed Wonder to Mottown's Tama label. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder. Dot. Because of Wonders's age, the label drew up a rolling 5-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a weekly stipen to cover their expenses. Wonder received $2.50 a week, and a private tutor was provided for when Wonder was on tour. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, and for a year they worked together on two albums. Tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first. When Wonder was still 11 years old, mainly covers of Ray Charles's songs. It included a Wonder and Paul composition, Sunset. The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Paul's compositions, two of which wondering and session number 112 were sewritten with wonder. Feeling wonder was now ready. A song Mother Thank You was recorded for release as a single, but then pulled and replaced by the Barry Gordy song I Call It Pretty Music. But the old people call it the blues as his debut single. Released summer 1962, it almost broke into the Billboard 100, spending one week of August at 101 before dropping out of sight. A follow-up single, Little Water Boy, had no success, and the two albums, released in reverse order of recording the jazz soul of Little Stevie in September 1962 and tribute to Uncle Ray in October 1962, also met with little success. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Review, touring the Chitlin Circuit of theaters Across America that accepted black artists. at the Regal Theater, Chicago. His 20inute performance was recorded and released in May 1963. As the album recorded live, the 12-year-old genius dot a single fingertips from the album was also released in May and became a major hit. The song featuring a confident and enthusiastic wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player who is heard to call out what key. What Key was a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously number one on the Rand chart, the first time that had occurred. His next few recordings, however, were not successful. His voice was changing as he got older, and some Mottown executives were considering cancelling his recording contract. But during 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either. Sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Barry Gordy to give Wonder. dropping the little from his name. Moy and Wonder worked together to create the hit Uptight, Everything's All Right, and Wonder went on to have a number of other hits during the mid 1960s, including with a child's heart, and Blowing in the Wind, a Bob Dylan cover, Co sung by his mentor, producer Clarence Paul. He also began to work in the Mottown songwriter department, composing songs both for himself and his label mates, including The Tears of a Clown, a number one hit for Smoky Robinson and The Miracles. It was first released in 1967, mostly unnoticed as the last track of their Make It Happen LP, but eventually became a major success when re-released as a single in 1970, which prompted Robinson to reconsider his intention of leaving the band. In 1968, he recorded an album of instrumental soul jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the title Ivets Red Now, which is Stevie Wonder spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention and its only single, a cover of Alfie, only reached number 66 on the US pop charts and number 11 on the US adult contemporary charts. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970, such as I was made to love her for once in my life and signed sealed delivered I'm yours. A number of Wonders early hits including My Sharia Moore, I Was Made to Love Her and Uptight, Everything's All Right, were seo written with Henry Cosby. 19707797s albums and classic period. In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder Shria Wright, a songwriter and former Mottown secretary. Write and Wonder worked together on the next album, Where I'm Coming From, Wonder Writing the Music, and Wright helping with the lyrics. They wanted to touch on the social problems of the world and for the lyrics to mean something. Dot. It was released at around the same time as Marvin Gay's What's Going On? As both albums had similar ambitions and themes, they have been compared. In a contemporaneous review by Vincleti in Rolling Stone, Gaze was seen as successful, while Wonders was seen as failing due to self-indulgent and cluttered production, undistinguished and pretentious lyrics, and an overall lack of unity and flow. Reaching his 21st birthday on May 13th, 1971, he allowed his Mottown contract to expire. In 1970, Wonder Seio wrote and played numerous instruments on the hit It's a Shame for fellow Mottown act, The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy. During this period, Wonder independently recorded two albums and signed a contract with Mottown Records. The 120page contract was a precedent at Mottown and gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Hot Wonder returned to Mottown in March 1972 with Music of My Mind. Unlike most previous albums on Mottown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, besides, and covers, Music of My Mind was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Dot Wonders lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones. While musically, he began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself. Music of my mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Tonto's expanding headband. Robert Margolof and Malcolm Cecil. Released in late 1972, Talking Book featured the number one hit Superstition, which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Honer Clavina keyboard. Talking Book also featured You Are the Sunshine of My Life, which also peaked at number one. During the same time as the album's release, Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to alleviate the negative effects from pigeon holing as a result of being in Rand Artist in America. Wonders touring with the Stones was also a factor behind the success of both Superstition and You Are the Sunshine of My Life. Dot between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. Dot. on an episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973. Wonder and his band performed Superstition as well as an original called Sesame Street song which demonstrated his abilities with television. Inner visions released in 1973 featured higher ground number four on the pop charts as well as the trenchant living for the city number eight. Dot. Both songs reached number one on the Rand charts. Popular ballads such as Golden Lady and All in Love is Fair were also present in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified hole. Inner Visions generated three more Grammy Awards, including album of the year. The album is ranked number 23 on Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time. Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s. On August 6th, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina when a car in which he was riding hit the back of a truck. This left him in a coma for 4 days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste. Despite the setback, Wonder reappeared for a European tour in early 1974, performing at the Midm Convention in Khan, at the Rainbow Theater in London, and on the German television show music laden. On his return from Europe, he played a soldout concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974, highlighting both uptempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as Living for the City. Dot. The album fulfillingness first finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts. The number one you haven't done nothing and the top 10 boogie on regga woman. The album of the year was again one of three Grammys won. The same year wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session that would become known as the bootleg album aoot and a snore in 74. He also co- wrote and produced the Shreda Wright album Stevie Wonder presents Shreda. On October 4th, 1975, Wonder performed at the historic Wonder Dream concert in Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind. By 1975, at age 25, Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards. in 1974 for Inner Visions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness first finale. In 1975, he played harmonica on two tracks on Billy Preston's album, It's My Pleasure. The double album with extra EP songs in the key of life was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate. yet is regarded by many as Wonders's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history. He album became the first by an American artist to debut straight at number one in the Billboard charts where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks became number one pop round hits I Wish and Sir Duke. The baby celebratory, Isn't She Lovely, was written about his newborn daughter, Aisha. While songs such as Lo's in Need of Love Today and Village Ghetto Land reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life one album of the year and two other Grammys. Dot. The album ranks 57th on Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time. Until 1979's Stevie Wonders Journey through the Secret Life of Plants, his only release was the retrospective three disk album looking back, an anthology of his early Mottown period. 1989 commercial period. The 1980s saw Wonder achieving his biggest hits and highest level of fame. He had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances. The 1979 mainly instrumental soundtrack album Stevie Wonder Wonders Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants was composed using an early music sampler, a computer music melodian. Wonder toured briefly in support of the album and used a feralite CMI sampler on stage. In this year, Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit Let's Get Serious performed by Germaine Jackson and ranked by Billboard as the number one Rand single of 1980. Hotter Than July 1980 became Wonders's first platinum selling single album and its single Happy Birthday was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday as a national holiday. The album also included Master Blaster, Jamine, I ain't going to stand for it, and the sentimental ballad Lately. In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his 1970s work with Stevie Wonder's original Music Aquarium, which included four new songs. The 10-minute funk classic, Do I Do, which featured Dizzy Gillespie, That Girl, one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the Rand side, Front Line, a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam War that Wonder wrote and sang in the first person, and Ribbon in the Sky, one of his many classic compositions. He also gained a number one hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their pe to racial harmony ebony and Ivory. In 1983, Wonder performed the song Stay Gold, the theme to Francis Ford Copa's film adaptation of SE Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Wonder wrote the lyrics. In 1983, he scheduled an album to be entitled People Work: Human Play. The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonders soundtrack album for the woman in red. The lead single I just called to say I love you was a number one pop and rand hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for best song in 1985. Wonder accepted the award in the name of Nelson Mandela and was subsequently banned from all South African radio by the government of South Africa. The album also featured a guest appearance by Dion Warwick singing the duet it's you with Stevie and a few songs of her own. The following years in square circle featured the number one pop hit part-time lover. The album also has a top 10 hit with go home. It also featured the ballot Overjoyed which was originally written for Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants but did not make the album. He performed Overjoyed on Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's I feel for you alongside Mel Mel playing his signature harmonica. In roughly the same period, he was also featured on Harmonica on Urithmic's single There Must Be Angel, Playing with My Heart, and Elton John's I guess that's why they call it the blues. Wonder was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African Famine Relief, We Are the World, and he was part of another charity single the following year, 1986, The AIDS Inspired, That's What Friends Are For. He played harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song If Ever, a song Wonder Seo wrote with Stephanie Andrews, wrote the track I do love you for the Beach Boys 1985 self-titled album and played harmonica on Can't Help Love in That Man on the Broadway album by Barbara Strericend. In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album on the duet Just Good Friends. Michael Jackson also sang a duet with him entitled Get It on Wonders 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single as were skeletons and you will know 1991 present later career. After 1987's Character album, Wonder continued to release new material but at a slower pace. He recorded a soundtrack album for Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever in 1991. From this album, singles and videos were released for Got to Have You These Three Words and Funday. The Bside to They got to Have you single was Feeding Off the Love of the Land, which was played during the end credits of the movie Jungle Fever, but was not included on the soundtrack. A piano and vocal version of Feeding Off the Love of the Land was also released on the Nobody's Child Romanian Angel Appeal compilation. Conversation piece and the live album Natural Wonder were released in the 1990s. Among his other activities, he played harmonica on one track for the 1994 tribute album Kiss My Ass, classic Kiss Regrooved. Sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, collaborated in 1997 with Baby Face on How Come, How Long, a song about domestic violence that was nominated for a Grammy Award, and played harmonica on Sting's 1999 Brand New Day. In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight. Into the 21st century, Wonder continues to record and perform, though mainly occasional appearances and guest performances. He did do two tours and released one album of new material, 2005's A Time to Love. His key appearances include performing at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Parolympics in Salt Lake City, the 2005 Live 8 concert in Philadelphia, the pregame show for Super Bowl 40 in 2006, the Obama inaugural celebration in 2009, and the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece. He sang at the Michael Jackson Memorial service in 2009 at Eta James funeral in 2012 and a month later at Whitney Houston's memorial service. Wonders first new album in 10 years. A Time to Love was released in October 2005 to lower sales than previous albums and lukewarm reviews. most reviewers appearing frustrated at the end of the long delay to get an album that mainly copied the style of wonders classic period without doing anything new. The first single, so what the fuss was released in April. A second single from the bottom of my heart was a hit on adult contemporary rand. The album also featured a duet with India on the title track a time to love. By June 2008, Wonder was working on two projects simultaneously. A new album called The Gospel Inspired by Lula, which will deal with the various spiritual and cultural crises facing the world, and Through the Eyes of Wonder, an album he has described as a performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind man. Wonder was also keeping the door open for a collaboration with Tony Bennett and Quinsey Jones concerning a rumored jazz album. If Wonder were to join forces with Bennett, it would not be for the first time. Their rendition of For Once in My Life earned them a Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals in 2006. Wonders harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy nominated Never Give You Up, featuring CJ Hilton and Rafael Sottic. In October 2013, Wonder revealed that he had been recording new material for two albums when the world began and 10 billion hearts in collaboration with producer David Foster. The albums to be released in 2014. He is featured on two tracks on Mark Ronson's new album Uptown Special. Wonder did a 13-day tour of North America in 2007, starting in San Diego on August 23rd. This was his first US tour in over 10 years. On September 8th, 2008, Wonder started the European leg of his Wonder Summers Night Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in over a decade. His opening show was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. During the tour, Wonder played eight UK gigs, four at the O2 Arena in London, filmed in HD, and subsequently released as a live-in concert release on DVD and Blu-ray, Live at Last, two in Birmingham, and two at the MEN Arena in Manchester. Wonders other stops in the tour's European leg also found him performing in the Netherlands, Rotterdam, Sweden, Stockholm, Germany, Cologne, Mannheim and Munich, Norway, Hamar, France, Paris, Italy, Milan and Denmark, Alborg. Wonder also toured Australia, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, and New Zealand, Christ Church, Auckland, and New Plymouth in October and November. His 2010 tour included a two-hour set at the Bonaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, a stop at London's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, and appearances at England's Glastenberry Festival, Rotterdam's North Sea Jazz Festival, and a concert in Bergen, Norway, and a concert in Dublin, Ireland, at the O2 Arena on June 24th. In 2000, Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for Spike Lee's Bamboozled album, Misrepresented People. And some years ago, in June 2006, Wonder made a guest appearance on Buster Rhymes album, The Big Bang, on the track Been Through the Storm. He sings The Refrain and plays the piano on the Dr. DR and Shaman XL produced track. He appeared again on the last track of Snoop Dogg's album tha blue carpet treatment conversations. The song is a remake of Have a Talk with God from songs in the key of life. In 2006, Wonder staged a duet with Andrea Bachelli on the latter's album Amore offering harmonica and additional vocals on Canzone Stoneate. Wonder also performed at Washington D.C.206 a capital 4th celebration. Wonder appeared on singer Selene Dion's studio album Loved Me: Back to Life, performing a cover of his 1985 song, Overjoyed. The album was released in October 2013. Legacy, a prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than 30 US top 10 hits and won 25 Grammy awards, the most ever won by a solo artist, as well as a lifetime achievement award. He has also won an Academy Award for best song and been inducted into both the rock and roll and songwriters halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time. In June 2009, he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. He has had 10 US number one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 Rand number one hits and has sold over 100 million records, 19.5 million of which are albums. He is one of the top 60 best-selling music artists with combined sales of singles and albums. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, organ, melodica, and clav. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder was the first Mottown artist and second African-American musician to win an Academy Award for best original song, which he won for his 1984 hit single, I just Called to Say I Love You, from the movie The Woman in Red. Wonders classic period is generally agreed to be between 1972 and 1977. Some observers see in 1971s Where I'm Coming From certain indications of the beginning of the classic period, such as its new funky keyboard style, which Wonder used throughout the classic period. Some determine Wonder's first classic album to be 1972's Music of My Mind, on which he attained personal control of production, and on which he programmed a series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album. Dot. Others skip over early 1972 and determine the beginning of the classic period to be talking book in late 1972, the album in which Wonder hit his stride. His classic 1970s albums were very influential on the music world. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said they pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade. Rolling Stones 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time included four of the five albums with three in the top 90. And in 2005, Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Inner Visions and songs in the key of life." It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar? Personal life. marriages. Wonder has been married twice to Mottown singer songwriter and frequent collaborator Shria Wright from 1970 until their amicable divorce in 1972 and from 2001 till 2012 to fashion designer Kai Millard. In October 2009, Wonder and Millard separated. Wonder filed for divorce in August 2012. children. Wonder has nine children by five different women. The mother of Wonder's first child is Yolanda Simmons, whom Wonder met when she applied for a job as secretary for his publishing company. Simmons bore Wonder a daughter on February 2nd, 1975. Aisha Morris. After Aisha was born, Stevie said she was the one thing that I needed in my life and in my music for a long time. Morris was the inspiration for Wonders hit single, Isn't She Lovely? Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album, A Time to Love. Wonder and Simmons had a son, Kea, in 1977. In 1983, Wonder had a son with Melody McCauley. Wonder has a daughter Sophia and a sonw with a woman whose identity has not been publicly disclosed. Wonder has two sons with second wife Kai Millard Morris. The elder is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandela J. Carl Stevland Morris, was born on May 13th, 2005, his father's 55th birthday. Wonders ninth child, his second with Tamika Robin Bracie, was born in December 2014. Originally thought to be triplets, the couple's new daughter is named Nia, meaning purpose, one of the seven principles of Quanza. Other in May 2006, Wonders's mother, Lula May Hardaway, died in Los Angeles at age 76. During his September 8th 2008 UK concert in Birmingham, he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss. I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around. Wonder was introduced to transcendental meditation through his marriage to Shreda Wright. Consistent with that spiritual vision, Wonder became vegetarian and later a vean singing about it on the late show with James Cordon during the shows carpool karaoke segment. Awards and recognition. Wonder has won 22 Grammy Awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He is one of only two artists and groups who have won the Grammy for album of the year three times as the main credited artist along with Frank Sinatra.